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The participation by students in extra-curricular activities can be important in their overall engagement in schools and may be related to positive educational outcomes. This report, based on a study of students who were in Year 10 in 1999 and using data from the 1998 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project, examines individual and school effects on engagement. The following key questions were examined: the influence of socioeconomic background on students' engagement levels; the influence of background factors such as gender on students' engagement levels; the extent to which student engagement is attributed to the differences between schools; and the factors that affect a student's engagement with school. Some of the findings that emerged from this study were: between-school differences account for almost nine per cent of the variation in students' engagement levels; gender, parents' educational level, student perceptions of school climate, self-concept of ability and intrinsic motivation were all found to have an effect on individual engagement, over and above the influence of whole-school engagement; and the overall level of student engagement in the school was a strong predictor of student-level engagement. The report is presented in five chapters: chapter one provides the introduction; chapter two examines the variables and methodology; chapter three looks at the student and school factors and their relationship with engagement; chapter four investigates the individual and school-level effects of student engagement; and the final chapter discusses the results of the study and policy implications of the findings. References and appendices are included.